Train Smarter, Not Longer

Oct 26 – REST DAY

Oct 26 – REST DAY

We are CLOSED today. With luck the weather will be nice and you can get outside to use some of that fitness you have created at the gym. If not stay warm and dry as you check out Sunday Reading/Watching below 🙂

SUNDAY READING/WATCHING

A weak bar mount – your approach and set-up when taking weight off the rack – will lead to missed lifts, especially when the weight starts getting heavy. You must respect the weight and approach the bar like you are serious about moving it. Commit from the beginning or miss the lift.

This is from the second “Standard of Fitness” from CrossFit’s early days, and what became part of their more elegant and concise definition: “Fitness is increased work capacity over broad time and modal domains.” It seems to me that doctrinally both the “time” and “modal” are equally important. However, for the beginner and intermediate athlete, I want to stress that “modal”, or movement, is actually the more important of the two.

Being able to do a movement either singly or with varied reps and loading should be the first ingredient in your training. We describe this to our Foundations students as “movement, consistency, then intensity”. I need you to be able to do a single “air” squat before I can get you to do 300 in a workout like “Murph.” I need you to do many of them well, before you can attempt to do a heavy back squat or snatch. So your first focus as an athlete should be on learning and improving your movements. Once you can perform a movement with consistency, then we can add increased loading and variation. Doing so prematurely is a recipe for frustration or injury.